Thurles Pride: Jessie Buckley Wins Best Leading Actress at the 2026 Actor Awards.

Thurles Pride: Jessie Buckley Wins Best Leading Actress at the 2026 Actor Awards for “Hamnet”.

Former Ursuline Secondary School (Ursuline Convent) student Ms Jessie Buckley has won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role at the 2026 Actor Awards in Los Angeles for her performance in Hamnet.

The ceremony; previously known as the SAG Awards, is voted on by members of the SAG-AFTRA actors’ union and is closely watched in the run-in to the Oscars, with actors forming the Academy’s largest voting branch.

Taking the stage, an emotional Ms Buckley told her audience, “I have been categorically changed by so many people in this room and beyond.”
She continued: “To get to work with my heart in my hand and stand beside my brilliant, daring friends who show me their heart, I mean, what a way to spend a life.”

Special tribute to Ms Emily Watson:
Ms Buckley also paid tribute to her “Hamnet” co-star Ms Emily Watson, saying: “I’d like to say a special thank you to my incredible friend and date tonight, Emily Watson… Your wild imagination, your brave untethered womanhood and your ferocious gentleness have been a guiding light to me. You’re the realest of the real. I hope I can continue to offer something meaningful back.”

About Hamnet.
Hamnet is directed by Ms Chloé Zhao and adapted from Ms Maggie O’Farrell’s novel. The film centres on Agnes (played by Ms Buckley), the wife of William Shakespeare (Mr Paul Mescal), as she navigates grief following the death of their son, Hamnet.

A major moment for a Thurles past pupil.
Ms Buckley’s win is another landmark moment in an extraordinary awards season, and a proud one for Thurles, where she attended the Ursuline Secondary School and took part in school productions.